


Rest

by longkissgnite



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Just kids being kids, as it goes in thg, but otherwise just kids being kids, relationship tagged but really just a crush, silly dumb silly, they have crushes but god forbid either address that, vague vague mention of child murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26603977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longkissgnite/pseuds/longkissgnite
Summary: Finnick makes some habit of relying on Annie for comfort in the night, Annie takes this job very seriously.
Relationships: Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15
Collections: Canon Odesta





	Rest

⠀⠀Annie slept soundly, easily. Why would she sleep any other way? The fourteen year old girl was happy, bright, and currently fast asleep.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Until there was a sound at her window, tapping, inconsistent but clearly there. Slowly she woke up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she listened to tap after tap. Then she was sitting up with a bolt as it /clicked/ what she was hearing.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Finnick!” She quietly, gleefully cheered to herself.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He made it an infrequent habit to come by her window, to get her attention and talk to her at night. At first, Annie hadn’t realized why, he said he just couldn’t get to sleep, that she was the only one worth talking to so that’s why he came by at all. But after a few of his nightly visits she pieced it together, feeling a bit foolish that it took that long at all. He was getting to sleep just fine, but he was having nightmares.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Annie felt unnecessarily proud that he came to her in these moments, even if he tried so hard to hide his upset from her. He wanted to be around her at all, and she knew him, she knew he only hid the upset so /she/ she didn’t get upset herself. How could that not be admirable? He so obviously cared about her, and she so obviously admired that.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀She got up, moving to the window and opening it, waving out to him with a squeal and a grin.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Good evening, owl!” He shouted up, a grin of his own that was clearly slightly sad, he probably just had a nightmare /again/.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀At fifteen, he was finally growing into the gangly limbs he had won his games with. Finally looking a little less like a boy. Annie didn’t care for it. Why should he look so adult, he was just as much a kid as anyone else, victory or not. She hated how old Finnick already was, he was too young for it.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Do you want to come in?” Annie asked, picking up a small rock that had landed on the window sill. Grey, streaks of a lighter grey, it was pretty, faintly shiny. It’d look nice on one of her shelves.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”No, no I just wanted to say hi,” Finnick explained, shrugging a bit.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀She nodded, “I’ll be right down,” she said, closing the window for a moment before he could argue.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀She put the rock on a shelf, carefully on the edge so she could find it a proper spot amongst her things later, and then focused on getting dressed. Not too dressed, of course, but it was chilly out. So she slipped on sandals, a jacket she was sure was her sisters, and then was opening the window again.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”I’m glad you’re still there,” she praised, swinging a leg out the window and finding her footing on a ledge.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”You said you’d be out, why would I go?” He asked, his arms outstretched in front of him as if ready to catch her if she needed it.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Because you have before,” she says with a shrug, getting her other leg out and beginning to climb down the siding of the house. Easy, it was built for vines to weave through, she was small and it could be easily done.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Still, about ten feet above the ground she slipped, fell, and his plan to spot her worked as she clumsily fell into his arms. Shrieking the whole fall, squealing when she realized he was holding her.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Got you,” he said a moment after she had quieted down, a moment later than he needed to. “Why didn’t you just use your door?”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Nat would’ve stopped me then,” she shrugged as he put her down, straightened her skirt and grinned. Part of her rather just stay secure in his arms, but it was an awkward hold and there was nothing to secure her from.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Nat…?” He asked dumbly, looking up at the now vacant window like someone else might appear there.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Annie laughed, “my sister!” She said, shaking her head. “You went to school with her, how do you always forget?” She giggled through her words.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Because her name is Natalia, /not/ Nat,” he said simply, and she didn’t argue further.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Instead she grabbed one of his hands, started pulling him along with her as she began to walk.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He didn’t talk again either, not for a bit. He only followed, despite being bigger he let her lead, and Annie was happy with this.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀It took until they were to the town square for Finnick to finally speak up, moving his hand from hers and stopping in his tracks. For a moment, Annie didn’t stop, until of course she realized Finnick really did stop.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Where are we going?”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”To the beach, of course.” Annie turned to him and shrugged, watching him closely. She thought one of these days she’d be able to read his mind.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Then why are we here? Your house is closer to the beach than here.”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Of course he was right, her house was closer, at least to the spot they normally went to. A cave off the shore, past the fishermens’ work yard. And that /was/ the spot she planned to go to too, however.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”I needed to check the time,” Annie explained easily as they reached the edge of the park.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀From here she could easily see the justice building, easily, see that the large clock read 3:15.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”It’s very late, Finn,” she scolded as she took his hand again and pulled him along with her again. “Was your nightmare that bad?”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He had come at midnight before, and sometimes he'd come at dawn, but not normally in the middle of the night. Usually it was earlier in the night and he’d go home soon enough, or it’d be dawn and he’d stay with her until his family reeled him back in. It was okay that it was so late, it was, she didn’t mind it, but it was just curious to her that he picked the line and crossed it.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”I didn’t have a nightmare,” he defended, “I just couldn’t sleep,”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Annie looked over her shoulder at him, looking in his face and thinking for a moment before she nodded.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Okay,” he was being honest, she knew that. The bags under his eyes were too deep for it to just be restless sleep, he was cutting out the middleman, skipping on the sleep. “How many days has it been since you rested?”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Just tonight,” Finnick said dismissively, she only shook her head. “Well, I didn’t sleep last night either, and not much the night before.”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀She frowned, but nodded. She understood, and was thankful for the honesty, however she still didn’t like it. She wondered what kept him up, what dreading thoughts and overthinking? Not that she’d ask, she knew the limit of his opening up, she knew she had reached it already.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Soon enough they made it to the beach and she let go of his hand to take off her sandals and carry them, running down the sand to her cave now. It was nice here, as it was dark but not in a /bad/ way. Not a darkness that brought something scary, but one with security. She crawled into her little cave, giggling when he stumbled in after her.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Careful,” she said gently when he lightly hit his head on the rock, he nodded, but that only caused him to hit his head again. ”Come here,” she softly instructed, arms out to him like she might be offering a hug.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀The most he did instead was he sat beside her, but that was more than enough for Annie. He smiled, he looked tired but he was smiling. There was something to appreciate in that, that he still smiled at all. Of course, that any victor smiled, but him especially. He was /still/ younger than any other victor before him, that was horrifying. Everyone saw it as something great, some great strength, bravery. Of course, not that he wasn’t strong and brave, he was, he was endlessly. That wasn’t the point, the point was he shouldn’t have to be. No child should have to go into those games, and at that no child should come out of them.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Not that she was upset he had won, she was thankful he was alive. He was her friend, he saved her life, and more importantly he was her /friend/. Him being alive wasn’t the problem, it was that there was ever a risk of him dying. It was that twenty three others had to die just so he wouldn’t. Finnick wasn't, and would never be, the problem. The problem was the Capitol.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀No, Finnick’s only problem was how tired he so clearly was now. Otherwise he was good, but he needed rest.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Lopsided and goofy smile, he reached over and brushed the curtain that was her hair back, maneuvering it all to be behind her shoulder. His smile evened and he looked so proud of this simple accomplishment.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He needed rest.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Finnick, why don’t you lay down?” Annie offered gently, taking one of his hands and gently messing with it with both of hers.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”I’m not really tired,” he shrugged, still a lopsided smile, still focused on her features.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”I am,”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Do you want to go back home?”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”I want to stay here with you.”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀They’d come here before, during these late meetings and all. She’d rested here during the day, it had been fine. What was the harm in combining them?  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”You’re being silly, Annie,” he chides softly, his hand still in her hair. He was so gently brushing through the tangled end, and she wondered if he would want to do it all if he had more energy.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Lay down,” she repeated, moving his hand from her hair and now holding both of them. “You don’t have to sleep, or tell me why you won’t, but you should lay down.”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He nodded then, and she wondered just how much fight really was in him. How aggressive and cruel was he really? If he spent his sleepless moments combing her hair and whining like a child, if he gave in so quickly and easily. He couldn’t be cruel, he was hardly a fighter. He was sweet, kind, and gentle.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀She pulled at his hands and he laid down, his head pillowed by her lap.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Sorry,” he began to move,  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”No, no it’s okay, you’re okay here.” Annie said quickly, putting a hand on his head.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He stilled, shifted so his face was towards her body instead of the rock.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Thank you, Annalisa,” he mumbled, almost against her dress, almost against her skin.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀It tickled, she giggled. She felt butterflies in her stomach, inches from where he lay. Thankful that he wasn’t looking so he didn’t see her blushing. It wasn’t that big of a deal, and she wouldn’t make it one. Closeness was just nice, it didn’t mean anything besides that Finnick finally settled.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”Why the formalities?”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”You have a pretty name,”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀”You have a pretty face,”  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀She played with his hair gently as he only hummed in response. She wondered if his cheeks were red and the dark only hid that from her. Probably not, Finnick was called pretty by so many, why would it be different coming from her?  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀Soon he drifted off, mumbling softly in his sleep when he did. She listened closely, but couldn’t decipher any words besides occasionally her own name. She wasn’t really listening for that though, she just wanted to make sure he didn’t have a nightmare. If he trusted her enough to fall asleep like this, she’d be sure to keep him safe.  
⠀⠀  
⠀⠀He deserved to be kept safe, she decided. If all else had failed him, if he had to kill just to be here with her, here at all, he deserved to be kept safe.


End file.
